


A Bolt Overdue

by bangyababy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ala Brooklyn 99, Bets & Wagers, Fluff, Frenemies, Hand Jobs, Humor, M/M, Past Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Rivalry, Some Science, The Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter) is Terrible, Unusual Jobs, everyone is fed up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-02
Updated: 2018-10-02
Packaged: 2019-06-29 23:36:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15739611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bangyababy/pseuds/bangyababy
Summary: Harry and Malfoy are rival lightning catchers who only had sex the one time. It's not a big deal. They absolutely haven't been dancing around each other ever since. Everyone they know definitely isn't sick of it.





	A Bolt Overdue

**Author's Note:**

> So this was for Prompt number S11, which I had a lot of fun with. I would like to thank @k for the incredibly quick and thorough beta and the mods for putting up with me. :)

The door to meeting room C-1 opened with a groan and then a bang. Everyone looked up to see a sheepish Harry Potter try to close the door without the same level of noise.

“Sorry,” Harry stage whispered. The other half dozen people in the room had done the exact same thing as Harry had, so they gave him reassuring smiles. Everyone except for Draco Malfoy, that is.

“How nice of you to finally join us, Potter,” Malfoy drawled, leaning back in his chair. “Maybe now that you’ve graced us with your presence we could actually start the meeting.”

Harry narrowed his eyes at Malfoy, but headed for the open seat next to him anyway. “I’m only a minute late.”

“And still wasting our time with all your chatter. Tick-tock, Potter, some of us have places to be.” Malfoy grinned as Harry huffed.

“But you’re-” Harry started but was cut off by a throat clearing.

Harry looked up and saw the director of the Board of Magical Weather Anomalies and Safety was at the podium and giving them a look that Harry could only remember seeing on Professor Mcgonagall. Harry crouched down in his seat and Malfoy looked down. “Now that everyone is here,” Amira Awolowo began with a pointed look, “I’d like to officially welcome you to this quarters BMWAS Standards and Safety Meeting.” There was a smattering of applause.

“Now,” Director Awolowo continued, “I know that we all don’t necessarily like having to come to these things—,”

“The meetings I can stand, it’s the company I can’t keep,” Malfoy half whispered to Harry.

“—ensure that you stay safe at the product that you harvest stays safe.”

“They really do let anyone in here,” Harry whispered back, giving Malfoy a cool look out of the corner of his eye. “They used to have standards.”

Malfoy kept his eyes on Director Awolowo, but he wasn’t listening to anything she said- it was the same every quarter. “Says the man who once had my dick in his arse.”

“That was one time,” Harry gritted out.

Harry could feel Malfoy smirking. “You loved it.”

“It was passable.”

“Well, if you two are finished reminiscing,” Director Awolowo cut it. Harry blinked and looked around the room. He found several unimpressed faces looking at them.

“Sorry,” Harry repeated.

“For Heaven’s sake, we are in public. Do try to be professional, Potter,” Malfoy chided and Harry glared at him.

There was a collective groan around the room, and Director Awolowo sighed and muttered something under her breath that sounded suspiciously like ‘Just shag already.’

“As you all know, we are about to start storm season off with a bang. There is a level four storm heading our way and we are expecting a lot of wind, a lot of lightning, and plenty of rainbows from the aftermath.” Director Awolowo waved her wand and the projection screen fell straight from the ceiling to the floor. “Bloody thing,” she cursed levitating it back up before re-attaching it to the ceiling hooks. “As I was saying, there’s going to be a massive amount of lightning and wind with this storm.” She pointed to the projections on the screen. “For those of you who are wind catchers, note that the cap of wind for this storm is going to be 4,000 blows or 120 gusts.”

“But that’s not fair,” Boris Shelton grumped. “A storm this size is ought to produce twelve times that!”

Director Awolowo held up her hand, and shook her head in sympathy. “I understand that, but to ensure quality product and balance, that is the boards decision, Mr. Shelton.”

Mr. Shelton grumbled as he shifted in his seat, crossing and uncrossing his arms. Director Awolowo turned her attention to the identical twin sisters on Mr. Shelton’s right. “For the rainbow chasers, absolutely no more than 20 pots of gold and 57 four-leaf clovers.”

“20 pots of gold?” Mary Rogers screeched. “Are you trying to drive us to the poor house? Do you understand how hard it is to get Leprechaun gold?”

Director Awolowo pursed her lips. “It is precisely our understanding of how rare Leprechaun gold is that has made us draw this conclusion. If we flood the markets, not only will value decrease, but we will have a hoard of Leprechauns wreaking havoc trying to get their gold back.”

Mary Rogers didn’t have anything to say to that, so she too sat back in her chair and grumbled to her sister.

Finally, Director Awolowo turned to Harry and Malfoy. “As you know there is no cap for how much lightning you catch.” There were rumbles from the other occupants of the room, but Director Awolowo spoke over them. “However, the heat of lightning will be raised from 10,000 Kelvin to 17,000 Kelvin. Now, before you protest, this is to ensure that the final product is more refined and ultimately safer when it comes time to infuse it.”

“17,000?” Harry repeated with wide eyes. “What’s wrong with 10? Don’t you realise how much more dangerous this will make it for us?”

“We have discussed that aspect of it, yes. But as you have produced hotter bolts in the past, we deemed it safe enough,” Director Awolowo admitted.

“Safe enough?” Harry repeated with a snort. “Has anyone on the board actually been out there in a storm?”

Director Awolowo looked flustered, but Malfoy cut in before she could answer. “What’s the matter? Can’t handle a little heat?” Harry glared at him and sent a small stinging hex his way. “Ow!”

“Mr. Potter,” Director Awolowo began. “Your question is irrelevant, as the fact remains that you have procured lightning bolts of that magnitude.”

“Irrelevant?” Harry squawked. “None of you have actually been out there, have you? You think that because we’ve gotten lucky that we can just go out there and pluck a 17 watt bolt from the sky like we’re picking daisies.” Harry faced Malfoy with a pleading look. “Back me up here.”

Malfoy looked at the ground when he spoke. “Potter does have a point. What the board is asking is markedly more dangerous than normal.”

“Thank you!”

“Regardless, I am confident that my team and I will able to meet the new standard without problem, even if Potter’s can’t.”

“Malfoy!”

Director Awolowo smiled. “That is wonderful to hear, Mr. Malfoy. Mr. Potter, if I may, there are always openings in the research department if you find yourself not up to catching.”

There were several titters around the room. Harry felt his cheeks heat up. “No, thank you,” he gritted out.

Director Awolowo concluded the meeting and the group walked out together. As soon as they entered the Atrium, Harry rounded on Malfoy.

“What the hell was that?”

Malfoy blinked. “I’m not sure I follow.”

“You know as well as I do that what they’re asking for is stupid and dangerous. It’s-It’s.” Harry struggled to find the right words. “stupidly dangerous!” 

Malfoy smirked. “Oh, Potty, getting a little soft in your old age?”

“First of all I’m 27, and second of all, you’re literally a month older than me.”

“Lies and slander.” Malfoy started to walk away leaving Harry looking after him in disbelief.

Harry shook himself back to the present and trotted after Malfoy. “Malfoy, wait.” Malfoy didn’t slow down, but he did nod at Harry to continue talking. “Do you really mean to go through with this without a fight?”

Malfoy gave a shrug that shouldn’t have been as refined as it was. “What else would I do?”

“But it’s dangerous!” Harry protested.

At that Malfoy stopped and gave Harry a sardonic look. “Because a career in lighting catching was so safe to begin with. Maybe if you used magic like a normal person to catch lightning you wouldn't have so many issues. You’re a wizard, aren’t you?”

“The science is  _ sound _ , Malfoy, how many times do I have to tell you this? A wound supercapacitor is the safest way to store lightning. At least a hell of a lot safer than storing it in a  _ jar _ .”

“It’s a magical jar, and therefore, superior.”

Harry huffed. “At least insulate the damn thing, Malfoy, Jesus. All you need is a negative—”

“Potter,” Malfoy interrupted, “I am so thoroughly uninterested in learning about primitive ways to catch lightning, so if you don’t have anything of value to say, may I please go home?”

Harry glared, but relented. “All I’m trying to say is there has to be a line.”

“Alright, I agree,” Malfoy said easily.

Harry considered Malfoy a moment longer. “What aren’t you telling me? You wouldn’t normally be so willing to throw yourself into a life-threatening situation.”

“Two things—” Malfoy held up two fingers “—first, you’re severely underestimating my ability to be petty, and second, I have no plans to die.” He turned on his heel and headed for the Floo line.

Harry rolled his eyes, but followed him anyway. “So, you do think it’s stupid.”

“Of course it’s  _ stupid _ , Potty, but they’re never going to listen to us,” Malfoy huffed.

“So you’re just going to accept it?”

“I never said that, either.”

Harry was quiet for a moment and the line moved up. Malfoy didn’t seem to be bothered that Harry was still hovering to his side.

“So what do we suggest we do?” Harry finally asked when Malfoy stepped up to the fireplace.

“They’ll only listen to one thing,” Malfoy replied, grabbing a handful of Floo powder and stepping in. “Results.” He threw down the Floo powder and disappeared in a swirl of green flame.

“Well, that was dramatic,” a witch to Harry’s left commented, looking a little impressed.

Harry gave her a long suffering smile. “You don’t know the half of it.”

~

“All I’m saying is we shouldn’t hafta die doing our jobs,” Harry slurred to the two other members of his team. 

Penelope Clearwater patted Harry’s shoulder while knocking back a shot.

“I died once.” He frowned. “It wasn’t as fun as Peter said it would be.”

Cho Chang peered around Penelope. “Whozzat?”

Harry stared mournfully into his drink and replied, “Peter Pan.”

“Who?”

“You don’t know Peter Pan?” Penelope asked.

Cho gave her a bleary glare. “Course I dinny know or I would no asked ya fuckin roaster.”

“Harry, she doesn’t know Peter Pan,” Penelope moaned.

Harry groaned and put his head on the bar in front of him “If she doesn’t know Peter, then she doesn’t know Rufio!”

“Rufio!” Penelope shouted and the bartender gave her a look. She bowed her head and began to chant in a stage-whisper, “Rufio! Rufio! Rufio!”

Harry picked his head up and joined in, banging his fists on the bar in front of him. Cho had no idea what was happening, but started chanting anyway.

“Excuse me!” Three heads swiveled like owls to face the source of the voice. Malfoy stood with his hands on his hips, glaring down at them. The three blinked in unison. “Merlin, that’s creepy.”

“Whaddya want Malfie?” Cho tried to jump out of her chair, but only managed to bang her knee against the opposite stool. “Aw, fuck.”

Malfoy was swaying on his feet, but he managed to give her a disparaging look. “You lot are shaking the absolute shit out of the bar. Some of us are trying to have a drink.”

“Aw, shove it up your arse, Malfoy,” Penelope said.

“Oh, I bet he’d like that,” Harry giggled.

“I’d bet  _ you’d _ like that,” Cho cut in and they all fell into a fit of giggles.

“Are you three going to behave like civilised membemers of society?” Malfoy asked, stumbling over the ‘m’ sound.

“No,” Harry grinned and they fell into laughter again.

“Hopeless,” Malfoy said, turning back to go. “Plebs, the lot of you.”

“What’d you say?” Penelope shrieked.

“I got this.” Harry bumbled out of his chair and stood face to face with Malfoy. “Fuck off, Malfoy.” Harry turned to look at his friends in triumph. The gave him an encouraging thumbs-up. Harry turned back around and the girls groaned into their drinks.

Harry and Malfoy continued to bicker in the background, but Penelope and Cho tuned them out.

“When are they going to shag?” Penelope cried, tears in her eyes.

“That’s the problem,” Cho said. “They already have.”

“I just don’t know how much more of this I can take, Cho. I’ve never been so frustrated in my whole life. And I once dated Percy Weasley!” Cho patted Penelope on the back as she wiped away her tears.

“Alright, fine! You’re on!” Harry’s voice cut through Penelope’s cries and they looked up to see Harry chest to chest with Malfoy.

“See you in the air, loser!” Malfoy called, walking away.

“That’s ‘The-Best-Lightning-Catcher-Slash-Genius’ to you!” Harry yelled after him.

Harry turned back to the bar and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw his friends. “I, uh, did something stupid?”

“What else is new!” Cho barked. Penelope threw a cocktail olive at his head.

~

The day the storm hit, Harry woke up with a surprising amount of energy. Normally bad weather made people sleepy, but for Harry it lit a match of anticipation, as if his body knew it was about to hurled into chaos.

Harry didn’t like to Apparate with the containers of lightning, so he picked up Cho and Penelope in his car. The rain was steady as they headed out to Flash Field, a plot of land specially designed to attract lighting with the installation of hundreds of lightning rods.

“So,” Harry explained on the drive over. “All we have to do is catch 25 bolts before Malfoy, and everything will be fine.”

“You act like that’s not what we're always trying to do,” Penelope replied.

“Well, if we lose, it’s only one storm we have to sit out on,” Cho conceded.

Harry grimaced. “I really am sorry about that. It’s just, Malfoy just rubs me the wrong way sometimes.”

“I wish he’d rub you the right way sometimes,” Cho returned and Penelope laughed over Harry’s outraged ‘hey!’

“It’s not that big of a deal, Harry,” Penelope said. “I mean, you’re going to pay us either way. And we’re going to get to watch you stand up in front of everyone and say ‘Malfoy is The-Best-Lightning-Catcher-Slash-Genius,’ so it’s kind of a win-win of us.”

“Thanks for the support,” Harry muttered.

Penelope shot him a beatific smile and sang, “Anytime.”

Malfoy, Alex Summerby, and a man called Jacques Travers were already there when Harry pulled up. The three got out of the car and trudged across the wet field, brooms and capacitors in hand, to meet Malfoy and his men in the middle. No one had bothered with impervious charms so by the time they were in front of each other everyone was soaked through.

“Potter,” Malfoy greeted. “Clearwater, Chang.” He nodded at the other two, but never took his eyes off Harry. Penelope rolled her eyes and Cho snorted.

“Malfoy,” Harry replied. “Summerby, Travers.” He nodded. “Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, shall we begin?”

“Fine by me,” Malfoy said, sticking out a dripping hand for Harry to shake.

“May The-Best-Lightning-Catcher-Slash-Genius win.” They shook before everyone took to the sky.

In the air, Harry pulled out his prescription heat-seeking glasses and spelled them to stick to his face. The wind was much stronger in the air, and he could see everyone was struggling to stay upright. Trying to balance a container, gauge the temperature of a bolt, and hang onto a broom was no easy feat.

Catching lightning was a lot like catching the Snitch, which was one of the reasons why, with the exception of Penelope, everyone had played Seeker in their respective houses. The first thing that needed to be done was to catch sight of a bolt forming, which was what the heat-seeking glasses were for.

Harry caught sight of a heat pocket and aimed his wand at it. It was already at 9,000 K, so Harry flew closer, opened his capacitor, and held on for life as the bolt struck. He felt the tingle of electric through every pore in his body, and just as soon as it came, it went away. Harry grinned as he closed the capacitor. There was no feeling like this.

Harry was the first to catch a bolt, but Malfoy was soon behind him. They weren’t catching as fast today, as the new limit meant there were less usable bolts, but Harry wasn’t worried. That was, until Cho’s capacitor exploded in her hands.

“Cho!” Both Harry and Penelope raced over to see Cho clutching at her hands.

“We need to take her to Mungo’s!” Harry shouted over the thunder. “Give me your capacitor, Penelope, and we can Apparate her.”

“No!” Cho cried. “I’ll be fine, it’s a little burn.”

“Cho, don’t be daft!” Penelope yelled. “You can’t stay up here now, you’re like a living conduit! What if you get hit directly!”

“We can’t lose!” Cho shouted. “Just heal my hands and I can get a spare capacitor.”

“Cho, forget the bet!” Harry said.

“Harry Potter, I am  _ fine _ . It’s a just a burn.”

Penelope gave Harry a pleading look, which Harry returned. “Fine, me and Penelope will stay if you go to Mungo’s  _ right now _ .”

Cho glared between the two, but she could see there was no arguing with them. Her shoulders slumped. “Fine.” She handed him the capacitor. “You’d better win.”

“We will,” Penelope assured her.

Cho flew to the ground and Apparated away. Harry turned to Penelope. “Go and make sure she’s alright, will you? If we both go, she’ll just come right back here.”

Penelope sighed and nodded. “Alright, give the capacitors here, I’ll put them in the boot.”

“Thanks, Pen. I’ll be there as soon as this over.”

“It really is just a burn, Harry,” Penelope called as she flew down.

It wasn’t more than five minutes after Penelope left that Summerby was taken down. Harry couldn’t really tell what had happened but it seemed like the bolt had missed his jar and stuck his broom instead. That was one of the reasons Harry wouldn’t use magic to catch lightning, as the bolt honed in on the source and not the container.

Harry flew over to Malfoy when Travers and Summerby disappeared.

“Alright?”

“Yeah, just a bit of second-hand shock. How’s Chang?”

“Just a burn,” Harry called back.

“Still on?”

Harry nodded and they were off.

They were both on bolt number 24 when Harry saw it. It was the hottest heat pocket he had ever seen. He didn’t think twice about racing forward to catch it, even know that his capacitor probably couldn’t handle a bolt of this size. He could feel the pre-strike tingle of the bolt charging the air around him, making the damp hairs on the back of his neck stand on end.

Harry opened the capacitor and was suddenly knocked to the side. The bolt broke and Malfoy raised his jar, already brimming with electric energy. The bolt went in and Malfoy closed the jar, turning to grin triumphantly at Harry.

Harry whipped his broom around and flew to the ground, stowing his capacitor back in the bag on his broom.

“You cheated!” Harry shouted when Malfoy landed.

“How the fuck could I cheat?” Malfoy shot back. “It’s not like we’re playing Qudditch up there. That bolt was  _ mine _ .”

“You pushed me!” Harry snarled and pushed Malfoy, causing him to drop his broom.

“I did not!” Malfoy countered, giving Harry a shove.

“You did too! I was right there! That bolt was mine and you used the wind to knock me out of the way!” Harry pushed him again.

“So I can control the wind now? It’s not my fault that you can’t control your broom!” Malfoy shoved him hard and Harry fell into the wet grass. 

Harry yelled in frustration and Malfoy laughed while Harry struggled to get up. “I’ll show you control!” Malfoy had about a half a second to look panicked before Harry was launching himself, tackling Malfoy to the ground.

Malfoy hit the ground with an ‘umpf’ that morphed into a groan when Harry fell on top of him. “Get off me, you heathen!”

“Admit that you cheated!” Harry shoved Malfoy’s shoulders down.

“I didn’t fucking cheat, you berk!” Malfoy stabbed Harry’s underarms with his pointer fingers and Harry yowled. Malfoy took the momentary distraction to flip their positions. Somewhere in the scuffle Harry had lost his glasses and now he was glaring up at Malfoy, rain drops clinging to his eyelashes, making them glitter. Malfoy could feel his stomach flip.

There was a flash of lightning and a crack of thunder behind them, and they were kissing, a heated mess of teeth and tongues.

Their hands tangled together as they scrambled to undone buttons and zippers.

“We probably shouldn’t be doing this here,” Malfoy murmured around Harry’s lips, pulling Harry’s cock out.

“Probably,” Harry agreed, snaking his hand into Malfoy’s pants. Malfoy gasped when Harry wrapped his hand around Malfoy’s cock. It was wet from the rain, but surprisingly warm. “Do you want to stop?”

“Merlin, no,” Malfoy hissed, scraping his teeth along Harry’s jaw. Harry groaned and pulled Malfoy’s cock completely free so it rested against his own hard prick. Malfoy sucked a mark into the cool skin of Harry’s neck as he thrust against Harry’s hand and cock, seeking more friction.

“You really didn’t cheat?” Harry asked.

Malfoy couldn’t help but laugh, but his thrusting never faltered. “You’re such a sore loser.”

“Then I’m really going to have to-” He gasped as Malfoy bit into his collarbone. “Have to tell everyone you’re The-Best-Lightning-Catcher?”

“Slash-Genius,” Malfoy reminded him.

Harry let out a groan that had nothing to do with their bet. A crack of lightning just to their left had Harry arching off the ground, electricity tingling down his spine, pushing him into unexpected orgasm. Malfoy following with a gasp. 

Malfoy slumped forward, head resting on Harry’s forehead. Now that they were both coming down, the adrenaline the cold of the rain was starting to become uncomfortable.

“We should probably get out of here,” Harry said. Malfoy nodded and pushed himself up, helping Harry to his feet. They did up their pants in silence.

“I’ll make it up to you,” Malfoy promised.

“You better.” Harry leaned up and kissed him. He swore he felt sparks.

~

“And so, it is with great humility that I pronounce Malfoy as The-Best-Lightning-Catcher-Slash-Genius,” Harry said, placing a plastic crown on Malfoy’s head as the pub broke into applause. Malfoy leaned over and whispered something in Harry’s ear, causing him to laugh.

“Excuse me,” Harry called over the din, and the pub quieted down. “I forgot something. I declare Malfoy as The-Best-Lightning-Catcher-Slash-Genius-Slash-Boyfriend.”

The cheers were deafening.

Later that night, Harry ran in Director Awolowo at the bar.

“Congratulations, Potter,” she said.

Harry raised an eyebrow at her. “I lost the bet, Director.”

“I meant, on finally getting your act together and snagging up that boy.” She nodded in the direction of Malfoy.

Harry felt his cheeks heat up. “Oh, right, thanks.”

“It also seems I owe you an apology,” Director Awolowo continued. “You were right about it being too dangerous. I’m sorry that I doubted you, and I’m sorry about what happened to Chang.”

Harry gave her a small smile. “Thank you. She wasn’t badly hurt, but she’ll need some time off.” He didn’t bother telling her that they were planning on sitting out the next storm anyway.

“Right. Well, the board will be scrapping the new rules in favour of the old ones, so hopefully you can avoid any incidents like this in the future.”

“Thanks,” Harry said. Director Awolowo nodded and walked away.

“You get an apology, too?” Malfoy asked, coming up behind Harry.

“Yeah.” Harry reached up and plucked the crown from Malfoy’s head to put it on his own.

“Excuse me, that crown is for The-Best-Lightning-Catcher-Slash-Genius-Slash-Boyfriend!”

“Oh, so sorry, I thought it was for The-Best-Lightning-Catcher-Slash-Genius’  _ boyfriend _ .”

Malfoy wrapped his arms around Harry’s waist. “You’re insufferable, did you know that?”

Harry grinned at him. “You may have mentioned it once or twice.”

“Kiss me,” Draco demanded with a smile. 

Harry licked his lips. “With pleasure.”


End file.
